Advertising metrics system and method

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for monitoring audio-video (AV) streams transported over a network. The system may include an AV probe deployed between an AV tuner and AV destination customer premise equipment. The AV probe may receive an incoming AV stream. The AV probe may generate a thumbnail stream by capturing thumbnails of the incoming AV stream. The AV probe may transmit, substantially in real-time, the thumbnail stream to a monitoring engine and the incoming AV stream to the AV destination customer premise equipment.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of audio visual(AV) streaming. More specifically, the present disclosure is related tomonitoring and verifying AV content including advertisement insertion.

BACKGROUND

Audio visual (AV) content is typically distributed from one or morecentral locations to local markets over relatively complex networksspanning large geographical areas. This AV content is typicallysupported by advertisements. However, while the AV content is typicallygenerated for wide distribution, e.g., to national or internationalmarkets, advertisements are often intended for comparatively narrowdistribution, such as for regional or local audiences. Advertisementsare thus often spliced into the AV content at the regional or locallevel. To accommodate this splicing, the originator of the AV content,e.g., the television network, typically supplies the content withembedded markers, such as those commonly referred to as “avails” and/orSCTE-35 advertisement cue signals. Local content providers, such asnetwork affiliate television stations and/or cable television (CATV)operators may use these avails to properly insert these localadvertisements. A typical hour of AV content, for example, may beprovided with four avails each corresponding to a 30 second time slot,or two avails each corresponding to a one minute time slot. These timeslots are thus available for insertion of local advertisements.

Automated equipment is typically used to detect the avails and to splicein the local advertising content to minimize errors. However, errors mayoccur due to many factors, including bottlenecks or other traffic issueswithin the content distribution network, by errors in placement ordetection of the avails, or simply by poor quality of the advertisementsbeing supplied to the local insertion point. Local advertisements maythus be spliced in too early or too late, at audio levels that may betoo high or too low, or in generally poor condition. This may result inthe advertisements overrunning portions of the program, theadvertisements being cut off, and/or the advertisements simply being ofgenerally poor quality. These errors are not only problematic from aQuality of Experience (QoE), but may also result in substantial refundsbeing due to advertisers who typically pay sizable fees for the airingof each 30 or 60 second advertisement.

A related problem pertains to verification of correct advertisementinsertion. In this regard, it is often difficult for a local televisionstation or CATV company to refute refund claims by advertisers whocomplain that their advertisements were improperly inserted, or wereotherwise of poor quality at particular locations within thedistribution network. Even in the event the quality of the program andadvertisement are monitored by the television station or CATV company atthe central insertion location, there is no guarantee that the qualityof the content was satisfactory as experienced by the end user.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In a first implementation, a system for monitoring audio-video (AV)streams transported over a network is provided. The system may includeat least one AV probe configured for installation at a network node. Theat least one AV probe may be configured to receive an incoming AV streamat a native frame rate and to capture at least one thumbnail of theincoming AV stream at a sampling rate which is less than the nativeframe rate to form a thumbnail stream. The at least one AV probe may befurther configured to timestamp and transmit the thumbnail stream, andto forward the incoming AV stream substantially in real-time. The systemmay further include at least one monitoring engine operatively connectedwith the at least one AV probe, the at least one monitoring engineconfigured to receive the thumbnail stream, capture AV data from thethumbnail stream, and transform the AV data into a visual representationof AV stream quality of experience (QoE).

In some embodiments, the at least one AV probe may receive the incomingAV stream through an AV input port, transmit the thumbnail streamthrough a network interface port, and forward the incoming AV streamthrough an AV output port. The AV input port and the network interfaceport may comprise a single bi-directional port.

In some embodiments, the at least one AV probe may be configured forrespective installation between an AV tuner and AV destination customerpremises equipment and the at least one AV probe may be configured tostore the thumbnail stream for delayed transmission to the monitoringengine. The at least one AV probe may be configured to capture,timestamp, and transmit the thumbnail stream substantially in real-time.The AV probe may also be configured to transmit the thumbnail streamthrough the network interface port to the monitoring engine. The atleast one AV probe may be further configured for receiving user data,and for transmitting the user data through the network interface port tothe monitoring engine, the monitoring engine being configured to processthe user data. The at least one AV probe may be configured forarrangement between a set top box (STB) and a television.

In some embodiments, the monitoring engine may be configured to receivea plurality of thumbnail streams from the at least one AV probe and tocapture AV data from each of the plurality of thumbnail streams. Themonitoring engine may be further configured to aggregate and transformthe AV data into a visual representation of collective AV stream QoE.The monitoring engine may be configured to receive, capture, andtransform the AV data substantially in real-time. The AV data mayinclude at least one of AV content verification data, advertisementinsertion data, and black screen detection data.

In some embodiments, the at least one monitoring engine may beconfigured to perform at least one of the following: monitoringadvertisements in real-time; monitoring advertisements simultaneouslyacross a plurality of AV streams; monitoring start and stop times ofadvertisements; verifying that avails were present at scheduled times;detecting SCTE-35 advertisement cue signals; detecting advertisementpre-rolis; detecting advertisement program in/out information;monitoring presence and timing of incoming splice messages; monitoringpresence and timing of outgoing splice messages; monitoring splice eventIDs; and generating AV quality metrics.

In some embodiments, the sampling rate may be less than or equal to atleast one of about half the native frame rate or about one third thenative frame rate. The sampling rate may be variable based on content ofthe AV stream.

In some embodiments, the monitoring engine may comprise an AV managementmodule configured to collect and aggregate transport stream (TS) datapertaining to one or more transport streams. The AV management modulemay be configured to receive AV data from a plurality of monitoringengines. The AV management module may be further configured to correlatethe AV data with the TS data.

In some embodiments, the AV stream may comprise at least one frame thathas been decoded from an AV transport stream. The AV stream may compriseat least one frame that has been decoded from an MPEG-2 transport streamformat.

In some embodiments, the AV data may be compared with at least one of anadvertisement schedule file and an advertisement verification file togenerate a result set, the result set configured to indicate whether anadvertisement was displayed correctly, and if not, a reason for adisplay error.

In some embodiments, a management server may be included. The managementserver may be configured to receive an actual audio output measured fromthe STB and to compare at least one dialnorm value with the actual audiooutput.

In another implementation, a method for monitoring at least oneaudio-video (AV) stream transported over a network is provided. Themethod may include receiving an incoming AV stream at one or more AVprobes at a native frame rate and capturing thumbnails of the incomingAV stream at a sampling rate which is less than the native frame rate,to form a thumbnail stream. The method may further include timestampingthe thumbnail stream, transmitting the thumbnail stream to a monitoringengine; and forwarding the incoming AV stream through the one or more AVoutput ports substantially in real-time.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving thethumbnail stream at the monitoring engine, capturing AV data from thethumbnail stream; and transforming the AV data into a visualrepresentation of AV stream Quality of Experience (QoE). In someembodiments, capturing may include capturing AV content verificationdata. The method may further include capturing user data.

In yet another implementation, an article of manufacture for monitoringat least one audio-video (AV) stream transported over a network isprovided. The article may include a computer readable storage mediumhaving a computer readable program code embodied therein. The computerreadable program code, when executed by a processor, may result in thefollowing operations: receiving an incoming AV stream at one or more AVprobes at a native frame rate, capturing at least one thumbnail of theincoming AV stream at a sampling rate which is less than the nativeframe rate, to form a thumbnail stream, timestamping the thumbnailstream, transmitting the thumbnail stream to a monitoring engine, andforwarding the incoming AV stream through the AV output portsubstantially in real-time.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages may become apparent from the description, the drawings, andthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of elements of the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a thumbnail stream, generated by theembodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is schematic view of portions of an embodiment similar to that ofFIGS. 1-3, in another representative application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a content distribution network withinwhich embodiments of the present disclosure may be deployed;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1, including an alternateembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are screen shots of representative data transformationsgenerated by the embodiments of FIGS. 1-6; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to those of FIGS. 1 and 6, of anotherembodiment of the subject invention.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings may indicate likeelements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In this disclosure, the term “native frame rate” is used consistentlywith its use by those skilled in the art of AV distribution, to refer toan AV stream that is independent of any transport stream. Examples ofnative frame rate AV streams include those that have been decoded from atransport stream (TS) such as an MPEG-2 transport stream. Other examplesinclude AV streams that have been decoded from a packetized transportstream such as an IP (Internet Protocol) transport stream, which may,for example, include an MPEG-2 transport stream. The term “computer” ismeant to encompass a workstation, personal computer, personal digitalassistant (PDA), wireless telephone, or any other suitable computingdevice. Terms such as “component(s),” “device(s),” and the like areintended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software inexecution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being,a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable,a thread of execution, a program, and a computer. By way ofillustration, both an application running on a server and the server (orcontrol related devices) can be components. One or more components mayreside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component maybe localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers or control devices.

The term “real-time” refers to sensing, detecting, capturing and/orresponding to external events nearly simultaneously (e.g., withinmilliseconds or microseconds) with their occurrence, or sufficientlyfast to enable the device to keep up with an external process such as AVcontent transmission along a network.

Systems and methods embodying the present invention can be programmed inany suitable language and technology, such as, Hypertext Markup Language(HTML), Active ServerPages (ASP) and Javascript. Alternative versionsmaybe developed using other programming languages including, but notlimited to; C++; Visual Basic; Java; VBScript; Jscript; BCMAscript;DHTM1; XML and CGI. Any suitable database technology can be employed,but not limited to: Microsoft Access and IBM AS 400.

Turning now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present invention includes asystem 10 for monitoring user quality-of-experience (QoE) foraudio-video (AV) streams transported over a content distribution network26. This network 26 may include a CATV (Cable Television) network,satellite television network, and/or other Video on Demand (VoD) networksuch as the Internet, etc. As shown, system 10 includes one or more AVprobes 12 having an AV input port 14, and an AV output port 16, and anetwork interface port (such as shown at 18 in FIG. 2). The AV probe 12is configured for deployment at a node of the AV network, between an AVtuner 20 such as a Set Top Box (STB), and AV destination customerpremises equipment (CPE) 22 such as a television. System 10 alsoincludes at least one processing engine 24 coupled to the networkinterface port of the probes 12 via a communications network 26′.

It should be recognized that communications network 26′ may be separateand distinct from the aforementioned content distribution network 26, oralternatively, may be substantially the same network, and/or may sharecommon elements. For example, portions (or substantially all) of bothnetworks 26, 26′ may include the Internet. Alternatively, networks 26,26′ may include a conventional bi-directional CATV network, in which AVcontent flows to the user in one direction, and user instructions, suchas VoD selections and the like, flow on the same network in the oppositedirection.

AV probe 12 may be configured for receiving an incoming AV stream 27from AV tuner 20 through input port 14 at a native frame rate. As willbe discussed in greater detail hereinbelow, AV probe 12 may beconfigured to capture thumbnails 28 of the incoming AV stream 27 at asampling rate which is less than the native frame rate, to form athumbnail stream 30 (FIG. 3), and to apply timestamps to the thumbnails28 of the thumbnail stream 30. AV probe 12 may also be configured totransmit the captured thumbnail stream 30 (e.g., through network port18, FIG. 2) to monitoring engine 24 substantially in real-time, vianetwork 26. Probe 12 may also be configured to forward the nativeincoming AV stream 27 through the AV output port 16 substantially inreal-time, e.g., for use by CPE (e.g., television) 22.

Monitoring engine 24 may take the form of computer readable program codedisposed on a computer readable medium such as a ROM (Read Only Memory)device incorporated within one or more computers or servers. As shown,this monitoring engine 24 may be disposed remotely from the one or moreprobes 12, being communicably coupled thereto via network 26′. Engine 24may be configured to receive and process the thumbnail stream 30 (FIG.3) to transform stream 30 into a visual representation of AV data 32,e.g., substantially in real-time. In particular embodiments, the AV datarepresentation 32 may include video (AV) content verification data,including advertisement insertion data, as will be discussed in greaterdetail hereinbelow.

In the aforementioned embodiment, AV input port and network interfaceport are shown and described as separate and distinct elements 14 and18. It should be recognized, however, that in some embodiments, theseports may be effectively combined into a single device. For example, AVinput port 14 may be configured for bi-directional operation, totransmit thumbnail stream 30 back to AV tuner 20 where it may then betransmitted via network 26 to monitoring engine 24.

Moreover, optionally, probe 12 may be configured to capture user dataand to transmit this captured data to the monitoring engine 24. Forexample, probes 12 deployed in a user's premises as shown, may beconfigured to receive user input such as channel selection, VoDselection, and/or the amount of time spent viewing such content, via aconventional remote control device. This user input may then becommunicated to AV tuner 20, such as by a conventional IR blaster shownin phantom at 36, to permit the tuner to operate in a conventionalmanner, i.e., to tune the user's STB 20 to the particular channeldesired by the user. This approach may thus enable user data, includingaudience metrics such as the aforementioned channels/content viewed andthe amount of time spent viewing such content, etc., to be convenientlycaptured by the probe 12 and forwarded, along with the various thumbnailstreams 30, to monitoring engine 24 for use in visual representation 32.

System 10 may thus be used for baseband video and audio fault monitoring(live and/or historical), baseband video auditing and reporting, channelmonitoring/scheduling, via distributed management, as well as foradvertisement insertion monitoring. For example, various embodiments ofthe present disclosure may be used for monitoring advertisements inreal-time, including start and stop times of advertisements, verifyingthat avails were present at scheduled times, detecting SCTE-35advertisement cue signals including pre-roils and program in/outinformation, monitoring presence and timing of incoming splice messages,monitoring presence and timing of outgoing splice messages, monitoringsplice event IDs, generating AV quality metrics, and combinationsthereof, as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow. Moreover,as will be discussed with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5, these capabilitiesmay be effected using multiple probes 12, across multiple AVstreams/channels which are optionally changed by either the user asdiscussed above, or centrally upon commands distributed to the probesfrom monitoring engine 24.

Turning now to FIG. 2, aspects of system 10 will be described in greaterdetail. In particular embodiments, probe 12 may include AV input port(s)14, e.g., in the form of conventional composite or component inputs, anda network interface port 18, e.g., in the form of a conventional RJXXport. Probe 12 may also include a data storage device, e.g., in the formof a disk drive, flash drive or other memory device, configured to storeand/or archive the various thumbnail streams 30, for DVTA (Digital VideoThumbnail Archiving). Alternatively, or in addition, probe 12 may beconfigured for substantially real-time transmission of thumbnail streams30 for DVTA at monitoring engine 24, Probe 12 may thus be configured tomonitor substantially in real-time, video (AV) streams 27 (FIG. 1),e.g., by capturing a series of thumbnails 28 thereof. Probe 12 may thusbe configured for remote baseband video (AV) monitoring in real-time,including black screen and freeze frame detection, audio channel leveldetection, video intensity level detection, storing the capturedthumbnails for auditing, remote real-time visual inspection, and/orhistorical and offline content inspection (e.g., advertisement insertionverification as discussed below).

In particular representative embodiments, for example, probe 12 may becapable of capturing video thumbnails at up to 8 thumbnails or more persecond, and for storing up to 30 minutes of jpeg thumbnails in theprobe, at a capture rate of 1 thumbnail per second for approximately1800 samples. These captured thumbnails and statistics/measurements maybe subsequently uploaded to monitoring engine 24 as discussedhereinabove. As also mentioned above, probe 12 may be used, e.g., uponinstructions sent from monitoring engine 24, to control the STB 20,e.g., via IR Blaster 36 or similar control means. In this manner, probe12 may be used to perform various additional functions, such as scanningchannels, changing channels, locking to a particular channel, remotelypower cycling STB 20, and/or capturing various audience metrics based onuser selections.

As also shown, monitoring engine 24 may be configured to generate avisual representation or transformation 32 of captured data that mayinclude, for example, a mosaic view 38 that shows simultaneous thumbnailviews from multiple probes 12. Alternatively mosaic view 38 may showsequential thumbnails from a single probe 12. Visual representation 32may thus provide a graphical representation of the foregoing dataincluding baseband video and audio levels, metrics/statistics, withalarming at minimum and maximum thresholds, video frame statistics,reports, logs with time stamps and/or marked with comments, andthumbnails such as to verify content. Monitoring engine 24 may also beoptionally configured for integration with an AV management module 42(FIG. 6) as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary captured thumbnail stream 30 isshown. Once this stream has been captured, probe 12 may inspect thestream to generate the various metrics/functions described herein. Thisinspection may be accomplished using substantially any conventionalvideo detection approach, such as comparing the pixels of adjacentthumbnails to determine the number of pixel changes therebetween. Thisinspection may also include comparing the thumbnails to the variousembedded markers used for insertion of advertisements or other content.

For example, when monitoring advertisement insertion, a probe 12 mayinspect stream 30 to identify the end of a first advertisement at 50,and the beginning of a second advertisement at 52, followed by blackscreens at 54 and 56. This inspection may provide verification that boththe first and second advertisements were in fact inserted into theoriginal AV stream 27 (FIG. 1) from which thumbnail stream 30 wasderived. This inspection may also reveal, for example, that anundesirably high number of black screens occurred between 50 and 52,e.g., to indicate a late splice of the second advertisement. Asmentioned hereinabove, such late splicing may be undesirable, as itgenerally means that a portion of the advertisement, and/or subsequentcontent, was cut off, and consequently, a refund of fees may be due,such as to an advertiser whose advertisement was cut short. Thisinspection may thus be used to capture a wide range of metrics and todisplay visual representations thereof, including delivery status,content outages, bit rates, advertisement splice performance includingstart and end of splice, early or late start or end of splice, blackframe performance, including appropriate distribution of black framespre- and post-splice, freeze frames, and audio levels during theadvertisement, for generation of audio level histograms (pre-, duringand post-).

As another example, when monitoring baseband video and audio, aninspection of stream 30 may indicate the presence of good content at 50,followed by black screens before a program change at 52, which wasfollowed by additional black screens at 54 and 56. This inspection thusmay provide for example, verification of the presence of good content,while also indicating an undesirably high number of black screensbetween 50 and 52, and a desirable number of black screens at 54 and 56.In this manner, such an inspection may be used to capture metrics thatare used to generate visual representations of the baseband AV stream 27(FIG. 1) substantially in real-time, for video and audio faults, blackscreen detection, intensity levels, and freeze frame, etc.

In various embodiments, the incoming AV stream 27 (FIG. 1) thumbnailsare captured (i.e., the stream 27 is sampled) at a sampling rate that isabout half the native frame rate or less. For example, the native framerate of a conventional AV stream 27 in the U.S. is 30 frames per second,while the native frame rate in Europe and Asia is generally 24 framesper second. So, for example, if the native frame rate of stream 27 is 30frames per second (fps), probe 12 may capture thumbnails for use instream 30, at a sampling rate of 15 fps or less. In particularapplications, a sampling rate of about one third the native frame rateor less, may be desired. Stream 30 may also include a captured audiosample associated with the various thumbnails. The results of each ofthese inspections may then be transformed into visual representations 32(FIG. 2) as described hereinabove.

In addition, the sampling rate may be varied, to permit some content tobe sampled at a higher rate that other content. For example, to furtherconserve resources, the sampling rate may be adjusted to a relativelylow rate of 1 fps for a television show, and then adjusted to a higherrate (and thus higher resolution) of 8 fps for advertisements, e.g.,upon receipt of an SCTE-35 advertisement cue signal. This capture ofthumbnails at a frame rate that is substantially lower than the nativeframe rate, enables the AV stream 27 to be accurately monitored using afraction of the resources that would be required to monitor AV streamsin a conventional manner at their native frame rates. This relativelyhigh efficiency may be further enhanced by this adjustment of thesampling rates to emphasize higher resolution when monitoring selectedcontent such as advertisements, which may be particularly sensitive tomiscues, black screens, etc., due to their relatively short duration andhigh cost.

Turning now to FIGS. 4 and 5, as mentioned above, substantially anynumber of probes 12 may be deployed to send thumbnail streams 30 tomonitoring engine 24, either substantially in real-time or delayed. Asshown in FIG. 4, these probes 12 may be configured to send streams 30via communications network 26′. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 5, theseprobes 12 may be placed at any number of locations within contentdistribution network 26, which locations may be distributed laterally,e.g., at various end user STBs 20 (FIG. 1), and hierarchically withinnetwork 26. This use of multiple probes 12 may provide for distributeddata capture, which may then be aggregated at one or more centrallocations (e.g., at engine 24) for monitoring. This approach thusprovides for a relatively broad and deep view of the performance ofnetwork 26, which facilitates such activities as channel scheduling inwhich various probes 12 may monitor specific channels at specific times.This configuration may also be used to monitor and log the load balancewithin network 26, by tracking the distribution of users tuning in toparticular channels across the network. Still further, the hierarchicalplacement of probes 12 may be used to monitor a particular AV stream 27at various locations throughout its transport. Monitoring engine 24 maythus aggregate and compare the streams 30 received from multiple probes,disposed at various hierarchical levels within network 26, and tuned tothe same channel for the same AV content. This data may then beaggregated to generate metrics associated with the quality of the AVstream 27 along its transport to an end user.

Alternatively, or in addition, data pertaining to the transport streamitself, including aspects thereof that may be associated with traffic,bottlenecks, etc., within network 26, may be obtained in a conventionalmanner. This data may, for example, be obtained by an iVMS™ VideoManagement System commercially available from IneoQuest Technologies,Inc. (Mansfield, Mass.), such as shown as AV management module 42 (FIG.6). This transport stream data may be correlated to the data aggregatedby monitoring engine 24 to produce a composite visual transformation 32as discussed hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 6.

Such hierarchical placement of probes 12 within the content distributionnetwork 26 is shown, for example, in FIG. 5, in which a representativecontent distribution network 26 may include a content originator 58 suchas a broadcasting network, which transmits content to a packetized ornon-packetized data source (e.g., VoD headend) 61, such as a cabletelevision (CATV) company or the like. Data source 61 may be configuredto forward a Transport Stream (TS), such as packetized video, viasuitable link to a network core 62, which may include some combinationof asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay, IP (e.g., Internet),and/or conventional MPEG-2 transport stream networks. As shown, the TSmay pass through various network elements, such as one or more routers64, and/or peripheral elements 66 such as DSLAMs (Digital SubscriberLine Access Multiplexers), before arriving at an end user's tuner 20.Those skilled in the art will recognize that a DSLAM may be a networkelement, usually located at a telephone company central office, thatdemultiplexes signals received via network 12, and distributes them toend users via Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections.

As mentioned hereinabove, the AV stream supplied by content originator58 typically includes various markers embedded in the native frame ratethat are used by the CATV company or VoD provider, e.g., at head end 61or at other nodes within the network 26, to splice in content such asprogramming and advertisements targeted towards their local end users.Examples of such markers include those commonly known as ‘avails’,SCTE-35 advertisement cue signals including pre-rolls and program in/outinformation, incoming and outgoing splice messages, and splice eventIDs, etc.

Probes 12 (FIG. 4) may be placed nominally anywhere within network 26,e.g., at substantially any of the aforementioned network nodes, toeffect the aforementioned monitoring. In this regard, it should berecognized that the TS may be decoded into a native stream 27 by an AVtuner deployed at any number of the aforementioned network nodes, suchas to facilitate the aforementioned monitoring and/or content insertionfunctions. For example, content transmitted by a source 58 such as atelevision network may be typically received and decoded by a CATVcompany at head end 61 for insertion of local advertisements, etc. Aprobe 12 may thus be placed at head end 61 to verify the quality of thecontent received from source 58. Alternatively, probes 12 may be spacedfurther downstream, such as with or within network elements/nodes 64 ofnetwork core 62, at peripheral network elements/nodes 66, and/or atlocations therebetween. Probes 12 may thus be deployed to receive thedecoded native stream 27 at node 61, or substantially any of the othernodes. In this manner, any number of probes 12 may be effectivelydeployed between an AV tuner, e.g., associated with the particular node,and the AV destination customer premises equipment (CPE) 22.

Moreover, it should be recognized that the various probes deployedthroughout network 26 may be operated remotely, such as to monitor arange of channels. For example, a CATV operator may program variousprobes 12 disposed along network 26 to monitor e.g., any advertisementsplaying on a particular network (e.g., ABC or CNN). Alternatively,probes 12 may be placed in scan mode, e.g., either in synchronicity withother probes 12, or independently of other probes, to monitor a range ofchannels at various intervals.

In the aforementioned embodiments, probes 12 have been shown asdiscrete, stand-alone devices that are separate and distinct from AVtuner 20 (FIG. 1) and from network elements/nodes 61, 64, 66, 22, etc.,and which may be inserted in series with an existing network link, suchas using fiber, copper, or wireless interfaces. It should be recognized,however, that in alternative embodiments, probes 12 may be incorporated(e.g., co-located), within a network element/node 61, 64, 66, etc., withor without an AV tuner.

Turning now to FIG. 6, as mentioned above, monitoring engine 24 mayinclude, or be otherwise integrated with an AV management module 42.This module 42 may be co-located with, or disposed remotely frommonitoring engine 24. In particular embodiments, as discussedhereinabove, module 42 may be an iVMS™ Video Management System(IneoQuest) which collects and aggregates data pertaining to one or moretransport streams as they are conveyed through content distributionnetwork 26. In addition, module 42 may be configured to receive datafrom a plurality of monitoring engines 24 and to correlate this datawith that of the various transport streams. In this manner, data frommultiple probes 12 which have been aggregated at a particular monitoringengine 24 may be further aggregated at module 42 for a relativelycomprehensive analysis of content distribution network 26. For example,data from probes 12 deployed along substantially the entire length of atypical TS route through network 26, may be conveniently aggregated withconventional transport stream data to provide a user with a visualtransformations 32′ corresponding to AV data/quality along substantiallythe entire length of the TS route, e.g., from head-end 61 to users' CPE22.

Referring now to FIGS. 7A, 7B, representative examples of the varioustransformations generated by monitoring engine 24 and/or managementmodule 42 are shown and described. For example, visual transformation32′ may include data in a tabular format with representations ofindividual thumbnails. Visual transformation 32″ may include a mosaic ofvarious thumbnails associated with one or more captured streams 30,e.g., associated with a single AV channel or multiple channels.Alternatively, the thumbnail mosaic may include substantially the samethumbnail captured at multiple points within the distribution network26. Transformation 32″ may also include reporting capabilities such ashistograms or charts which summarize the captured data, e.g., pertainingto audio or visual levels within the captured thumbnails, etc. Moreover,in particular embodiments, transformation 32″ may include metricsassociated with particular transport streams, such as provided bymanagement module 42.

Turning now to FIG. 8, it should be recognized, in light of the instantdisclosure, that any number of devices known to those skilled in the artmay be configured to accomplish the aforementioned functions associatedwith probe 12. Examples of such devices may include, but are not limitedto, the Singulus G10™, Geminus G10™, Geminus G2X™, Singulus G1-T™,Geminus G1-T™, IQMediaMonitor™, and IQDialogue™ devices, allcommercially available from IneoQuest. For example, a Singulus G1-T™shown at 12′ may be used to monitor the insertion of advertisements aseffected by a conventional advertisement splicer 70 that may bedeployed, for example, at head end 61 of content distribution network 26(FIG. 5). The data captured by probe 12′, including thumbnail stream 30(FIG. 2) generated thereby, may thus be combined with data captured byone or more probes 12, at monitoring engine 24.

It should be recognized that various advertisement servers and/oradvertisement splicers 70 may include a lineup of which advertisement isto be inserted where (including which time zone) and when. Monitoringengine 24 and/or management system 42 may capture that lineup and thencompare it with the thumbnail streams 30 captured at the particularlocations and times, for verification.

In some embodiments, advertisement splicers 70 may be configured toprovide one or more of a customer ad schedule and ad verification files.One or more components of system 10 (e.g., monitoring engine 24) may beused to automatically compare, on a periodic basis, some or all of thecustomer's ad schedule files and ad verification files from ad splicers70 to the actual SCTE35 tones that occurred during that time period.Using this information, system 10 may be configured to generate a resultset or Ad Run report configured to indicate whether an advertisement wasdisplayed correctly, and if not, a reason for a display error. Thisreport may indicate to the customer the advertisements that played andwhich advertisements did not. The Ad Run report may also includespecific information regarding the reason for the failure, including,but not limited to, a missed tone, etc.

In some embodiments, system 10 may be configured to measure an audiolevel associated with a given AV stream for comparison purposes. Forexample, audio levels from the output of the STB may be measured anddirected through an averaging filter in the AV probe in order to set analarm which may be sent to the management server. In some embodiments,the management server may also receive an indication of the loudness. Inthe server, a comparison may be performed between the dialognormalization (i.e., dialnorm) values that have been decoded from the AVstream with the measured audio levels to identify audio level shiftsthat may be in error and to identify the video that was playing at thattime (the dialnorm value may refer to the control signal or meta dataused to create a relatively consistent consumer dialog level betweenvarious programs and channels). The data may be compared to an adschedule similar to those discussed above. In this way, system 10 may beused to compare actual audio levels with dialnorm values, and to makethe threshold user configurable.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an exemplary method 900 for monitoring at leastone audio-video (AV) stream transported over a network in accordancewith the present disclosure is provided. Method 900 may includereceiving an incoming AV stream at one or more AV probes at a nativeframe rate (902) and capturing thumbnails of the incoming AV stream at asampling rate which is less than the native frame rate, to form athumbnail stream (904). Method 900 may further include timestamping thethumbnail stream (906), transmitting the thumbnail stream to amonitoring engine (908), and forwarding the incoming AV stream throughthe one or more AV output ports substantially in real-time (910).Numerous other operations are also within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The aforementioned embodiments may use conventional standards fordigital program/advertisement insertion, to provide advertisementauditing and reporting, including visual advertisement spliceperformance, quality, and service assurance. These embodiments enablethe captured data to be filtered for particular content/advertisementevents, while correlating advertisement splice messages, video contentmetrics, and captured thumbnails. Reports may thus be generated foradvertisers and program content providers which include theaforementioned metrics, including advertisement times, geographic zones,channels, and audience metrics, etc.

It should be understood that any of the features described with respectto one of the embodiments described herein may be similarly applied toany of the other embodiments described herein without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

The phrase “substantially in real-time”, as used herein, refers to abarely perceptible user time, e.g., a few seconds or less. In contrast,an approach that records the material to tape or otherwise, processesthe stored material, and then plays the results back would not occur“substantially in real-time”.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of aspects of the present invention. In this regard, eachblock in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). Itshould also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in thefigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as a system, method or an article ofmanufacture such as a computer program product. Accordingly, aspects ofthe present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware,resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining softwareand hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a“circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the presentdisclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied inone or more computer-readable (i.e., computer-usable) medium(s) havingcomputer-usable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer-readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer-readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, a device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. Note that the computer-readable storage medium could even bepaper or another suitable medium upon which a program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, acomputer-readable storage medium may be any medium that can contain, orstore a program for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-usable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof, Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatcan contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport a program foruse by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus,or device.

Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc. Computer program code forcarrying out operations of aspects of the present disclosure may bewritten in an object oriented programming language such as Java,Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer program code forcarrying out operations of aspects of the present invention may also bewritten in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the“C” programming language or similar programming languages. The programcode may execute entirely on a user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperations to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

1-27. (canceled)
 28. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving, by an AV probe coupled to an AV tuner, an incoming AV stream;capturing, by the AV probe, content verification data from the incomingAV stream; generating, by the AV probe, a thumbnail stream that includesthe content verification data by capturing thumbnails of the contentverification data from the incoming AV stream; transmitting, by the AVprobe, the thumbnail stream to a monitoring engine; and transforming thecontent verification data from the thumbnail stream to generate a visualrepresentation of the content verification.
 29. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 28, wherein the content verification data includesadvertisement insertion data.
 30. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 28, wherein transforming the content verification data includestransforming the content verification data from the incoming AV streamto include a mosaic view that shows one of simultaneous thumbnail viewsfor multiple AV probes and sequential thumbnails views from the AVprobe.
 31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30, wherein thevisual representation provides a graphical representation of thethumbnails to verify accurate content.
 32. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 28, further comprising inspecting the thumbnail streamto verify that a first advertisement and a second advertisement wereinserted into the incoming AV stream; and identifying an end of thefirst advertisement and a beginning of the second advertisement.
 33. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising determiningthat a number of black screens occurred between the end of the firstadvertisement and the beginning of the second advertisement and exceededa threshold, indicating a late splice of the second advertisement. 34.The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein inspecting thethumbnail stream includes capturing at least one of delivery status,content outages, bit rates, advertisement splice performance, earlystart of splice, late start of splice, early end of splice, late end ofsplice, black frame performance, freeze frames, and audio levels duringthe advertisement.
 35. A computer program product residing on a computerreadable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving, by an AV probe coupled to an AV tuner, anincoming AV stream; capturing, by the AV probe, content verificationdata from the incoming AV stream; generating, by the AV probe, athumbnail stream that includes the content verification data bycapturing thumbnails of the content verification data from the incomingAV stream; transmitting, by the AV probe, the thumbnail stream to amonitoring engine; and transforming the content verification data fromthe thumbnail stream to generate a visual representation of the contentverification.
 36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein thecontent verification data includes advertisement insertion data.
 37. Thecomputer program product of claim 35, wherein transforming the contentverification data includes transforming the content verification datafrom the incoming AV stream to include a mosaic view that shows one ofsimultaneous thumbnail views for multiple AV probes and sequentialthumbnails views from the AV probe.
 38. The computer program product ofclaim 37, wherein the visual representation provides a graphicalrepresentation of the thumbnails to verify accurate content.
 39. Thecomputer program product of claim 35, further comprising inspecting thethumbnail stream to verify that a first advertisement and a secondadvertisement were inserted into the incoming AV stream; and identifyingan end of the first advertisement and a beginning of the secondadvertisement.
 40. The computer program product of claim 39, furthercomprising determining that a number of black screens occurred betweenthe end of the first advertisement and the beginning of the secondadvertisement and exceeded a threshold, indicating a late splice of thesecond advertisement.
 41. The computer program product of claim 39,wherein inspecting the thumbnail stream includes capturing at least oneof delivery status, content outages, bit rates, advertisement spliceperformance, early start of splice, late start of splice, early end ofsplice, late end of splice, black frame performance, freeze frames, andaudio levels during the advertisement.
 42. A computing system includinga processor and memory configured to perform operations comprising:receiving, by an AV probe coupled to an AV tuner, an incoming AV stream;capturing, by the AV probe, content verification data from the incomingAV stream; generating, by the AV probe, a thumbnail stream that includesthe content verification data by capturing thumbnails of the contentverification data from the incoming AV stream; transmitting, by the AVprobe, the thumbnail stream to a monitoring engine; and transforming thecontent verification data from the thumbnail stream to generate a visualrepresentation of the content verification.
 43. The computing system ofclaim 42, wherein the content verification data includes advertisementinsertion data.
 44. The computing system of claim 42, whereintransforming the content verification data includes transforming thecontent verification data from the incoming AV stream to include amosaic view that shows one of simultaneous thumbnail views for multipleAV probes and sequential thumbnails views from the AV probe.
 45. Thecomputing system of claim 44, wherein the visual representation providesa graphical representation of the thumbnails to verify accurate content.46. The computing system of claim 42, further comprising inspecting thethumbnail stream to verify that a first advertisement and a secondadvertisement were inserted into the incoming AV stream; and identifyingan end of the first advertisement and a beginning of the secondadvertisement.
 47. The computing system of claim 46, further comprisingdetermining that a number of black screens occurred between the end ofthe first advertisement and the beginning of the second advertisementand exceeded a threshold, indicating a late splice of the secondadvertisement.
 48. The computing system of claim 46, wherein inspectingthe thumbnail stream includes capturing at least one of delivery status,content outages, bit rates, advertisement splice performance, earlystart of splice, late start of splice, early end of splice, late end ofsplice, black frame performance, freeze frames, and audio levels duringthe advertisement.